One of my Christmas gifts is that Carl writes the annual family newsletter, so I don't have to. Grin when you think about him complaining that my blogs are too long. Be grateful for the gift! This is only a portion of his annual missive.
See ya next year!
Love and prayers,
Heidi
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Greetings to all from the halls of the Cutting-Schultz Cooperative Commune:
There have been many new things happening in our lives in the past year.
The first of these being the birth of our most marvelous grandson, Pierson. On the 15th of January we were truly blessed, and overjoyed with an easy and safe birth for both mother and son. It was an excellent way to start out the year...
... In the early part of January after talking a while, we decided that it would be a good idea, at least as far as Heidi and I are concerned, (I can’t speak for Lindsay and Scott), to give up our house and move in with Lindsay and Scott. We remodeled a basically unused formal dining room into a reasonably sized bedroom with a walk in closet right by the babies' bedrooms. Lindsay and Scott kindly gave up their master bedroom to us to take the bedroom by the babies. I believe that this arrangement works, and I thank God that we have two people like Lindsay and Scott in our lives. Without them we would be lesser persons.
Lindsay found that her new job was reasonable and the woman she works for has high regard for her and has given her more responsibilities and a raise. She also works periodically at a law firm, helping out when she can. Being a full time EVERYTHING keeps her busy, but she finds a way to do it all. In addition to all this she somehow found time here and there to work out and lose weight and get in exceptional shape. She look MARVELOUS.
Scott is Scott. You don’t realize just what that says. First of all, he is a great guy, he works hard, he is a devoted husband and father, truly adored by all of us. He is his babies hero, they truly love every minute he has to spend with them. This year he changed jobs to be able to spend more time with his family, while becoming store manager in the new job. He can get such responses of sheer joy out of his children, they both smile and laugh so well for their dad.
Then there is my girl, Phoebe. For some unseen reason she just loves her Poppa in a way I can’t explain. When I come home, she claims me for hers, what a rush. She is such a beautiful girl, but the most impressive thing is just how smart she is. She just seems to “get it”. It is hard to realize sometimes that she is only 2 1/2 yrs old. Some of the things she does, and more impressively thinks of and understands are far beyond her years. Her mother and father can take great pride in her, they have put in the time and love to create a wonderful little human being.
This brings us to “little man” as his Mama calls him. Pierson is such a joy to behold, he just loves life, and is one of the laughingest babies I have ever seen. He is strong and handsome (looking like his Poppa). He makes other people just feel better just by being around him. I have yet to see anyone that can walk past him and not stop and talk to him. Both he and his big sister are fearless which keeps us all on our toes, we fear a trip to the emergency room to get one of them patched up. Somehow they always seem to avoid pain and suffering, thank God for that. We just couldn’t stand to see them hurt. It will happen some day, but I pray that day is far in the future.
We next come to the love of my life, my Heidi. This year has had both ups and downs for her. She has had two places of employment that let her down, the first by not paying what she was owed in wages, the second by eliminating her job after assuring her they would make sure she was employed by them for the duration, then saying she was no longer needed. She had a two month period with no job which was distressing to her. Thankfully she has recently become employed, again with a law firm, and she is happy once again with her employment. The ups have been first being near her “babies”, they give her such joy, and then there is her weight loss. She has done wonderfully, losing in excess of 60 lbs and still going. Through a Christian radio station she got some encouragement as their “Biggest Loser”, getting some free gym time and a wonderful lady to give her time to Heidi as her personal trainer, free of charge for almost 5 months, giving her the basis for her success and a plan for further success. I believe this time is going to stick, she has found that exercising along with everything else works for her. Lindsay has given her a description that I won’t expand upon, yet needless to say, said description is quite flattering to her in its unique way. She, as I previously described Lindsay, looks MARVELOUS, and she hasn’t finished her journey yet. She writes a blog for the radio station at least once a week chronicling her journey, talks to them on the air periodically, our celebrity. At a recent concert for Christian artists “Casting Crowns”, by the way our favorites, she was brought up on stage and recognized for her accomplishment, to a standing ovation, no less. I am truly proud of my wife.
As for me, all is as it always is. I work 12 days and then go home for 2, then turn around and do it all again. I truly love our living arrangement, I not only get my time with Heidi, but also with Lindsay, Scott , Phoebe and Pierson. Jeremy is close by and so I get to see him and Brianna when she comes for his visitation. When not working my time is pretty well accounted for with my family and I wouldn’t have it any other way. At 56 I’m beginning to feel the effects of age physically, but I’ll never grow old in my head, it’s not in my makeup.
Jeremy is doing pretty well. He is working hard and doing his best to be a father that is involved in his daughter’s life. I am proud of the man he is becoming, he sometimes hits bumps in the road, but for the most part he does well. He has been on the job as an electrician for several years with the same company and is well liked there. Brianna is a wonderful girl, very smart and talented, busy with her cheerleading. We are very proud of her and relish each time we get to see her. I am glad Jeremy and her Mom are friendly, it gives us more chances to see her in good circumstances.
Beth is living in the Salt Lake City, Utah area with her partner, Andrea. She moved out there several years ago and has found she loves the area. She is working and contemplating going back to school as life allows. We love her and miss her, but she has her life to live. We talk when we can, but she is busy with her life, as are we. Heidi had the chance to go out and visit just after Christmas last year and said it’s beautiful...
...The last of our children, but not the least is our Allie. She is now 20 yrs. old. Where have all the years gone, all my children are now between 20 and 32, how scary a reminder of just how old I’m getting. Allie is a marvel, mostly up but sometimes down. She has one of the best work ethics I’ve ever seen. Even when she fears she has let herself down she is always looking for a way to fix it. She is doing well in school, nose to the grindstone and all that. The strangest thing for me to face is that for the first time ever, after this Christmas holiday, I will have gone a whole year and not seen my baby girl face to face. How quickly they grow and follow their next steps in life. Allie has a new “beau”. How funny they must look together, since she is 5’ 2” tall and he is scraping the clouds at a mere 6’ 5 or 6+”, something like that. This seems to be serious so far as I can tell. If it leads to something permanent, so be it, as long as happiness plays a major factor. I think it might be a bit harder to be intimidating when looking up at this guy. I was lucky that previous boyfriends thought I was scary, don’t think it’ll work this time...
...The last thing to say to all of you is that we love all of you and wish we had better chances to get together. I had hoped for a possible family reunion next 4th of July, but due to work regulations, planning something that far in advance over a holiday can’t happen. But again, please know that I will call those that I can get a hold of as often as possible. Even if you dread it, I still call, cause some of you don’t know how to dial a phone, or don’t want to. Ma always made it clear to me, especially after I moved to Florida, that communication with those you love shouldn’t be overlooked. You never know , especially at our ages, when you may lose that chance.
As I quote Richard Nixon, at least in part, “Let me make one thing perfectly clear!”, I Love All of You, and you are all often in my thoughts and prayers...
...Carl
